Remodel cost calculator

Enter a room, its square footage and how far you plan to take the finishes, and this returns a budget range rather than a single number. The range is the useful output: HomeAdvisor reports typical kitchen remodels running from $14,589 to $41,547 around an average of $26,939.

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How this is calculated

Square footage multiplied by a cost-per-square-foot band for that room and finish level. Two numbers come out because the band has two edges, and the distance between them is what a calculator honestly knows about your job.

Only the kitchen row is published directly: HomeAdvisor states $75 to $250 per square foot for kitchen remodels, and the three finish levels split that band. The other rows are derived from the same source's averages and ranges for those rooms, which is a weaker basis, and saying so is the point. Rooms without cabinetry, plumbing or appliances cost a fraction of a kitchen per square foot, and no published per-foot figure for them was found.

Where a per-foot rate misleads

Bathrooms carry fixed costs that a per-foot rate cannot see. A toilet, an exhaust fan and waterproofing cost the same at 35 square feet as at 60, so those costs get divided across fewer feet and a small bathroom genuinely costs more per foot than a large one. Estimating a powder room from a per-foot band will understate it.

Kitchens behave differently, and HomeAdvisor's own size table shows it. Taking the midpoint of each published range gives $154 per square foot at 75 square feet and a flat $163 at 100, 150 and 200 — almost perfectly linear. A kitchen's dominant costs are cabinet run and countertop, both priced per linear foot, so they scale with the room rather than sitting on top of it. The per-foot estimate above is therefore more reliable for a kitchen than for a bathroom.

What this deliberately leaves out

Permits, which HomeAdvisor puts at $460 to $2,770 for a kitchen. Demolition and disposal, $1,000 to $2,300 for a bathroom. Moving plumbing or gas, structural work, asbestos and mold remediation, and the category that ruins budgets — whatever is found once a wall is open. None of that is predictable from square footage, so none of it is in the number above.

The practical response is a contingency line. Set aside 10 to 20 percent of the estimate before work starts, and treat it as spent rather than as savings you might keep.

Where the money actually goes

The per-foot number tells you the size of the decision but not its shape. For that, the breakdowns are more useful: what a kitchen remodel costs by component, and what a bathroom costs once plumbing enters the picture. If the room only needs surfaces changed, interior painting costs covers the cheapest version of the same goal.

Working out what the room should look like before pricing it is a separate problem, and using AI on a room photo covers how far to trust a render of it.